We Get Letters: The "Pleasing Your Brother" Edition

I open up the Cake Eater mailbag this morning, and inside is a missive from "best"  Cake Eater Brother Timmy:

Subject: Putin

Where has he been?

Truth be told, it's (was) August: the slowest news month of the year because everyone (besides me) is on vacation.  But, never fear, we do have some newsworthy coverage from almost a month ago. 

Putin Strips for Stardom, Again

MOSCOW — Vladimir Putin drew scrutiny reserved for Hollywood action heroes this week, as Kremlin images of him fishing, swimming, rowing and riding bare-chested on a Siberian mountain were snapped up by media all over the world.

During a brief visit to the fields and streams of the Russian republic of Tuva, the Russian prime minister doffed his shirt to break cords of wood with his bare hands, ride a horse and swim a furious butterfly stroke, all for the benefit of government cameras.

Two state-owned Russian television channels broadcast video of Putin's leisure pursuits Tuesday night, and within hours everyone from the BBC to the tabloids seized on the story — perhaps grateful for something to cover in August, the slowest of news months.

The Western media seemed fascinated by the notion that the tough-talking former KGB lieutenant colonel, regarded as the shadowy power behind President Dmitry Medvedev's throne, would bare much, if not all, for an adoring public.{...}

Sexy beast, no?  And by that, of course I mean the horse.

"Da.  Dis is Brokeback Mountain.  Vhy do you ask?"

I don't know why, but I fear for the fish. 

In other, more current Putin news, he did his absolute darndest today, at the Polish commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the German invasion, to say:

{...}I want you to know that Russia has always respected the courage and heroism of Polish people, Polish men and officers who were the first to stand up against Nazism in 1939.{...}

Yeah.  Russia has always respected Poland and the Polish people. They really liked stomping hither and thither, loved the pierogies, and a deep respect for Poland and her people sprang up as a result.

In the words of Mr. Mackey, "Drugs are bad, mmmkay." 

Somehow, Vlad neglected to mention that Stalin, under his agreement with Hitler, invaded Poland two weeks later, and then when the Red Army strolled through again in early 1945, somehow, forgot to leave for the next forty-five years or so.  We're not the bad guys.  Really.  It was all about Hitler and how eeeevil the Nazis were.

Anyway, we live to please here at the Cake Eater Chronicles.  I hope you enjoyed the Vlad shots, and, no, I won't reimburse you for the bleach you bought to pour in your eyes after viewing them.